Pull Strings and Strawberry Scents
by Yodeling Prospector
Summary: Jessie and Lotso were both left at the side of a road. What if they were left by the same road around the same time?
1. Dumped for Donation

**This is my going to be my first multi-chapter fanfic. I'm also going to try writing this and posting it without getting members of my family to give me their opinions first, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like. However, I would LOVE your reviews. This chapter is just an introduction to the main story, only the end is really important. I'm going write a chapter and do a quick spelling/grammar check, and only revise each chapter a few times, so I'm not sure how good it will be. Well, here goes.**

Lotso was sitting in a field with very tall grass, and he had been there for weeks. His beloved Daisy had taken him, and him alone, with her to her family's picnic. They had played together, and Lotso had been placed a bit away from the picnic tables, as Daisy had been so hungry that she had dropped him immediately at the first sign of lunch. Lotso had watched Daisy fall asleep, and continued to lie there as Daisy's parents packed up, and buckled Daisy into her car seat, without glancing around for their daughter's favorite bear. Lotso was beginning to feel worried, but he was sure they'd turn around and get him any moment now.

He watched in surprised horror as Daisy's parents closed the car door, got in their seats, and sped off. He stayed there for weeks, convinced that his Daisy would come for him. He would have gone looking for her, but he was afraid that if he left that spot, Daisy would come back and he wouldn't be there. So there he sat.

Jessie had been gathering dust under Emily's bed for years. She'd fallen under when Emily's friend grabbed the pillow she was resting on, so Jessie slid through the crack and onto the floor. She'd told herself so many times that Emily would look for her, and find her under the bed, but Emily either didn't notice or didn't care that Jessie wasn't in plain sight anymore.

Emily finally did find Jessie, but she didn't play with her. She took her in the car, and got out at the park they used to play at. Emily paused when she saw something pink laying in the grass. "What's this?" she muttered, picking it up. It was a pink bear that smelled of strawberries. He seemed to be abandoned.

She carried Jessie and Lotso over to the donation truck and put them in an empty box, along with a few other odds and ends. She felt a tiny twinge of regret leaving Jessie, but she was too old to play with cowgirl dolls anymore, and the bear looked like he needed some company. Still, she picked up her cowgirl, and gently straitened her hat. "Bye Jessie," Emily whispered, "I love you, but you could make some kid who doesn't have any toys really happy, like you made me happy when you were my only toy. But I'd rather you bring joy to someone else than sit on a shelf. Besides, it looks like he needs some company, don't you think?"

_Who needs some company?_ Jessie thought as Emily gave Jessie one last hug, and dropped her in the box, closing the top so the only light was coming from the handles on the sides. She watched as Emily drove away, a sad smile on her face.

Lotso stared at the cardboard in front of his face. He had just been dropped in a donation box. _What about Daisy?_ He asked himself. But deep down he knew she was never coming back. He knew she was probably crying her eyes out for him, but it had been an hour car ride for Daisy's family to get here. As much as Daisy's parents knew their daughter loved Lotso, they wouldn't drive an hour to find out some kid had probably picked him up anyway.

_Well, that's smart of them, _thought Lotso, thinking of how the teenage girl had picked him up. He decided to just accept he wouldn't see Daisy again, even if it hurt. _What's the point of mulling over impossible dreams? _Lotso asked himself. The real thing bugging him, however, was he was going to be alone in this box.

As Emily's car disappeared from sight, Jessie turned around. "Hello?" she said. "Is anyone-" But before she could finish her sentence, she was pulled into an enormous, furry, strawberry-scented hug. As the stuffing was being almost squeezed out of her, Jessie heard a voice say "Thank goodness you're here. I thought I was going to be all alone in here"

****_REVIEW_ PLEASE!****

**I know I changed Lotso's story so only he was lost, and he seems to be taking it pretty well. Interesting, why isn't he emotionally crushed? Does my explanation in the story of why he's not taking it badly sound reasonable? I like to think that the things Emily says to Jessie in this chapter are running through Emily's mind (except for the parts about Lotso, of course), and just aren't said aloud. I have a general idea of what might happen in the next couple chapters, but not in the overall story. Toodles.**


	2. Go See Lotso, Talk To Jessie

**I'm back with chapter two already. Well, enjoy.**

Jessie was let out of the giant hug, slightly out of breath because of the lack of air when her face was pressed into the fuzz. The hugger broke the silence with "Hello, there! I'm Lotso-Huggin' Bear. But please, call me Lotso."

"Howdy there, Lotso! I'm Jessie. It sure is a pleasure to meet ya." Jessie said, shaking what she hoped was Lotso's paw. She peered through the dim light to try to see him, but all she saw was the general shape of a bear. However, she did get a strong smell of strawberries.

"Do you smell strawberries, or am I just going crazy?" Jessie asked hesitantly. "Well, of course you smell strawberries! It's me, I'm supposed to smell like them. Don't tell me you've never met a Lotso-Huggin' Bear before." "Well, I've met several teddy bears, but I never met a strawberry scented critter. That sure is something different."

"Actually, it's not. There are tons of Lotso toys sold all around the world! We even come in different colors and smells. The smells are fun for everyone, and they also help the little ones fall asleep."

"What about you, though?" Lotso asked, "Is there anything cool about you that I probably don't know exists?" He looked at Jessie, and was surprised to see a cowgirl hat in the dim light of the box. "Whoa there, Missy. Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or do you have a cowgirl hat on?" "Well, what do you think a cowgirl should wear, earmuffs?" Jessie retorted. "Have you ever heard of a pull string before?" "A what?" Lotso questioned, confused.

Jessie grabbed Lotso's paw and placed it on her back. "Feel a loop?" She asked him. "Pull it." Lotso did, and Jessie yodeled through her voice box. "Well, isn't that something?" Lotso asked.

"Actually, pull strings are pretty common. Take Chatty Cathy, Mrs. Beasley, and See n' Says for example. They've all got pull strings. Ever heard of any of them?"

"Well, Daisy's mom would call Daisy 'Cathy' when she was talking someone's ears off, maybe she got it from that." Lotso suggested. "Maybe," Jessie said, "I can't think of why she'd call her by another name, unless that was her nickname or something. I know Emily went by Em for a brief period of time."

"Who's Emily?" Lotso asked. Jessie sighed. "She was the girl who put us in this box. She was my owner." They both went limp with smiles on their faces as the box was being moved into the truck. When it was safe to come alive again, Jessie asked Lotso who Daisy was.

"She was my owner." Lotso echoed Jessie. "She lost me at a picnic and never came back." Jessie looked at him and said "I know how you feel. I was under Emily's bed for years. Emily never noticed me missing, even though I was one of her few toys." Lotso nodded and told Jessie "Daisy only had a couple toys when I was with her. She _loved_ Lotsos, but she kept losing them, or they'd fall apart in the wash. I was her fourth Lotso, and she's probably replaced me by now."

Jessie looked at him, shocked. "And that doesn't bother you?" she asked in disbelief. "I knew it would happen sooner or later." Lotso said in a voice that implied he was talking about the weather rather than being abandoned, "You'd think it if you knew Daisy. She's an active child, and easily distracted. If you've got her attention when she's doing something else, she'll drop whatever she's holding and dash over to the fun." Lotso laughed quietly. "In the few weeks I was with her, she lost tons of things. Crayons, books, paper dolls, you name it. Once she drops it to move on to something else, she'll likely forget all about it."

"But why didn't she go back for you?" Jessie asked, appalled. To her surprise, Lotso laughed again. "Well, don't ask me why, but Daisy's parents decided the best place for a picnic was somewhere an hour away." Jessie let out a giggle and commented "That's ridiculous!" Lotso nodded and went on. "It sure is, and you know what? When she still had me, she was talking about times that she had with her other Lotso. She's gone through four already, but she doesn't know that. When she noticed one was missing, she'd probably cry for him all day long. Her parents would make some excuse for why she can't play with her Lotso that day. Then they'd buy a new one, trash the box, and give the replacement to Daisy, and she thinks it's that first Lotso. Well, what about your owner"

"Oh, Emily was wonderful! I was her best friend of years. She loved anything to do with the wild west, and she took me everywhere. There were times I'd get dirty, but since I'm part plastic, they'd have to hand wash me, so I couldn't get ripped apart in the washer. Emily was also very active, but she was very careful about always making sure I was with her. Although, there was one time she had covered me with sand in the sandbox, and her mom told her they had to go home. She was frantically searching for me, but her mom got mad and carried her to the car. The next day, she was in tears when she came to the park, and she found me outside the sandbox. I'd crawled out when she was coming so it would be easy for her to find me." Jessie paused, and then said with a laugh, "After that, though, she'd tie my pull string around her wrist whenever we were out." It was quiet in the box as the truck started moving.

They didn't say anything for a while. Finally Lotso spoke up. "Where do you think we're going?" he asked. "I don't know," Jessie replied, "But we should stick together. And I know we just met but-" she pulled her string and finished with "I'm so happy you're my friend!" Lotso smiled and said "I'm glad you're my friend, too."

**REVIEW PLEASE!** **Yes, this is the Lotso you're familiar with, but as you can see, he's different too. My Jessie does ****not**** say "I'm so happy you're my friend!" Sorry if Lotso's story was kind of boring, but I think it was necessary. Tootles.**


	3. Being Trucked

**Hi. I'm back! Well, here's chapter 3.**

Jessie and Lotso didn't say anything for a while. They just sat side by side in the dark box, listening to the wheels of the truck skim over the pavement. Only when the truck stopped and heard the driver rant about how he didn't want to do multi-day trucking jobs did Jessie break the silence.

"I wonder why we're going so far away. I thought we were left for Tri-County Charities, but we can't still be in Tri-County." Lotso thought about it but couldn't come up with a good answer, so he shrugged and said "I'm sure they have their reasons."

"Yeah, but peoples' reasons for things aren't always good." Jessie muttered. "Emily and her mom used to always argue about whether Emily could take me to school, and Emily's mom often said that I couldn't come because I didn't know calculus."

"What's calculus?" Lotso asked. "No idea," Jessie responded "But I got the feeling it was some sort of advanced subject, like math." Lotso agreed, pointing out that _calculus_ sounded like a math word, but added that it could be historic event or something.

The absurdity of two toys talking about calculus sank in on them, and they both had a fit of giggles. When they stopped laughing, Jessie added that she had gone to school once or twice with Emily.

"It was fun. In preschool, Emily played with me all day. Kindergarden rolled around, and I'd mostly occupy the seat next to hers. She stopped taking me every day in first grade, I'd only come every Thursday, which was a short day, but I'd only leave her backpack during recess or show and tell. She brought me in for show and tell so many times over the early school years, that her teacher would tell her 'Emily, if you brought Jessie, we're skipping you.'" Jessie sighed softly. "Well, did Daisy ever take you to school?"

Lotso said "Once, and I was in her backpack all day except for recess, and at recess, all she did was drag me along while she played normally." They were quiet for a bit more.

"Maybe tomorrow we'll be donated to a sweet little kid." Jessie exclaimed. "Boy would that be fun!" Lotso agreed hugging Jessie. They were forced to freeze up as the truck was open, so they were in a friendly hug all night long, thinking of the kid they hoped they'd meet tomorrow.

They woke up when the truck started moving again, and sat in silence as the Tri-County charity truck ironically carried them farther from Tri-County. At last they stopped, and they heard boxes being moved out of the truck. The box in front of them was taken away, and light spilled into their box. For the first time, they saw each other clearly.

Jessie was startled. When she pictured Lotso in her mind, she pictured a dark red velvety bear. However, he was pink and fuzzy. He had a white belly and muzzle, and white on his hands and feet, along with inside his ears. He had a large purple bear nose, and large purple eyebrows, with brown eyes underneath. He was slightly bigger than Jessie, and a little on the healthy bear shape, but he'd be chubby if human.

Lotso was even more shocked at what Jessie actually looked like. He'd pictured a brown cowgirl hat and black hair, with a pink shirt under denim overalls. Jessie actually had red hair pulled into a braid, and a red cowgirl hat. She had a white shirt with yellow on the chest. The yellow portion had a design of loops. Her cufflinks were identical to the yellow portion. She also had two buttons on her shirt. Her pants were jeans with chaps in the print of cow spots, and she wore brown cowgirl boots underneath. She had vivid green eyes.

Lotso looked down, and was startled to see Jessie on a lunchbox. He pointed it out, but they went limp as the box was carried inside and put in a storage closet. When it was safe to come alive again, Jessie told him "Haven't you ever heard of Woody's Roundup?" Lotso shook his head.

"Oh, it's a TV show I was on, well not me personally, but my character." Jessie said. Something was troubling Lotso. "When I asked you if there was anything interesting about you, why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. Jessie sighed and informed him "Because we'd just met, and I thought telling you that Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl was on TV would make you jealous and maybe you wouldn't like me."

"You really think I'm that vain?" Lotso asked, hurt. "No," Jessie said, almost pleading for him not to ask that. "I just didn't know how you'd react." Lotso looked angry, and his voice started to rise. "Oh, because you're on a TV show, you think you can keep secrets from me?" Jessie was furious. _What's wrong with him?_ She asked herself, thinking Lotso was being a moron. She really wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but a small voice in the back of her head told her it would be unwise to do so because she would be stuck in a small box with someone who was angry with her. So she said nothing and curled up behind Emily's cowgirl boots.

Lotso realized he'd flew off the top and might have lost his only friend; he took some deep breaths and calmed down. After a bit, he said "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Jessie. I think it's really cool you're on a TV show. Maybe I could watch it some time." Jessie nodded, and then asked, very hesitantly in case Lotso blew up again, "Why did you get so angry?" Lotso sighed, and pushed up on the flaps of the box, which didn't budge. "Because," he said softly. "We're going to be in here for a while"

**REVIEW PLEASE! Well, that's chapter 3. It was originally going to be two chapters, but they both seemed short, so I merged them into one. Jessie and Lotso had a fight, and hopefully they won't have another for a while. I changed Jessie's reaction in the end so she'd be more in character. Before, her reaction was awfully OOC.**


	4. New Owner?

They were actually only in the box for a couple weeks. During those weeks, Jessie and Lotso spent the time talking, and Lotso continually apologized for his blowup at Jessie.

"It's okay," Jessie would say whenever he did this. "Your anger was bottled up, and you just couldn't keep it in, could you?" In reality, she was pretty annoyed at his anger management issue, but she didn't tell him because she didn't want to get in any more fights.

"Why did you hide your anger like that, though?" Jessie asked him one day. Lotso started to get mad, but realized Jessie was just trying to avoid future arguments, and he forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths.

"You know how I told you I didn't really mind that Daisy lost me?" he asked Jessie, who nodded. "Well, I lied. It practically tore my heart apart, I was furious at Daisy's parents for just forgetting me. But I didn't lie about the picnic being an hour away, or that I was her fourth Lotso. I was so upset, but I knew that was the end of my time with Daisy, so I tried to be optimistic." Lotso sighed and continued, "I'm still sad about it, but I'm not alone now, so I feel a bit better."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Jessie said, softly. Lotso nodded and put in "I feel really bad for her first Lotso, I at least knew I was a replacement, not that it made my abandonment much easier, but..." he stopped and didn't say anything for a while.

"I sure hope we get another owner soon, it's mighty boring in here." Jessie said, and Lotso added, "Hopefully they won't lose us, though, I don't think I could take it again, but I can't wait to be played with again."

Around a week later, they were forced to forgo their conversation and freeze up as someone came into the storage closet. "All right, everything's either being donated or sold." they heard him say. They waited in silent excitement as their box was carried outside to where tables full of boxes were, opened, and set on the grass.

They heard people moving around the tables, and claiming items, so they were forced to remain inanimate. They waited for what seemed like forever, but nobody even gave a second glance in their box.

At last, a girl peered in their box. She was around seven years old, with blonde pigtails and pink overalls over a yellow shirt. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head with excitement when she saw the two toys lying in there, and she grabbed them at once.

"Wow! A Lotso bear! I've wanted one of these for ages, my friend had one and I was so jealous. And a cowgirl. Cool!" She looked back into the box and saw the Jessie lunchbox. The girl looked from the lunchbox to Jessie and back again. "You were on TV?" she asked Jessie, who naturally didn't respond. "That's really awesome! I've never heard of that show, though. Woody's Roundup?" She grinned at the two toys and then ran over to a woman, shouting "Mom! Mom! Can I please get these toys? They were in the free section, and I don't have anything to play with right now. Please?"

The girls mom looked over at her daughter, and replied "I don't know, Annika. How much are they?" "I already said they were free, Mom. Can I get them, please?"

Both Jessie and Lotso were pleading for Annika's mom to say yes. "Oh, all right." her mom said, and Annika squealed with delight, before throwing her arms around her mom. Then she eagerly stuffed the two toys in her backpack, yanked the zipper shut, and flung the pack over her shoulder. Jessie and Lotso were jostled around as Annika started to run.

Annika stopped running, and both toys were in a crumpled heap at the bottom of her bag. They heard Annika's mom ask if she could help lift a table into the trunk, and Annika grumbled something about heavy things before tossing her backpack into the backseat of the car.

Lotso and Jessie both smiled, happy to have a new owner instead of being stuck in a box. "I hope we'll have fun." Lotso told Jessie. "We will." Jessie responded. They went limp as the car door opened and Annika slid next to her backpack. As soon as she was buckled in, Annika took out her new toys, and started to further inspect them.

She studied Lotso first, sniffing him and happily exclaiming "strawberries!" She rubbed her finger over his nose, feeling the velvety material. "How about I call you Mr. Lotso Bear. Yeah, that works." She placed Lotso beside her and picked up Jessie.

"Wow. You're different." She told the cowgirl, fingering the yarn braid. She shook her a bit, so her limbs flopped around, and smiled. "What should I name you?" She asked the doll. Annika ran various names through her head. Peggy. Jane. Susie. None of them seemed to work. "I guess you'll have to go by 'the cowgirl' for now." she said sadly.

"How about you talk to the mom who let you get those toys instead of the toys themselves." Annika's mom said dryly from the front seat. Annika sighed and tossed Jessie and Lotso back into her backpack and partially zipped it.

"Why do we have to stay at Grandma's" she complained. "She's so boring!" Annika went on. "Because she offered to let us camp out for a bit since our house burned down last week." Her mom answered, sounding as though she'd said it a million times already. Jessie and Lotso looked at each other in surprise. "Having your house burn down seems awful." Lotso whispered so Annika wouldn't hear. Jessie nodded and piped up "She's rather rude about her grandma, though." Lotso laughed, a bit too loudly, and Annika asked "What was that?"

Her mom, fortunately, didn't hear anything and Annika passed it off as a delusion. "Nice job." Jessie whispered sarcastically. Lotso quietly apologized, and then they froze as the car pulled into a driveway. Annika grabbed her backpack and hopped out, sprinting in the house, up the stairs, and into a room with only a bed and a dresser. It was obviously a guest room. Annika dove onto the bed, yanked the zipper open, and pulled out her toys. "All right, let's play." she said.

She put Jessie under the pillow and sat on the floor. She held Lotso a bit away, and had him knock on an imaginary door. "Come in." She said in a commanding tone. Annika walked Lotso across the floor and sat him against the dresser.

"Ah, Mr. Lotso Bear," she greeted, "you came for my offer." She made Lotso nod, and said in her best deep voice "How much will you pay me?" Annika smirked and answered as herself "You'll get well paid for this job I assure you." She then explained to Lotso that a troublesome cowgirl criminal (Jessie) had a large price on her head, and Lotso was to catch her.

"Now remember, Mr. Lotso Bear, bring her to me alive. Well, get going, I want to deal with her soon." Annika moved Lotso across the room and made him climb up on the bed. She then grabbed Jessie and made her jump out from behind the pillow, cackling madly. "Now stay right there, cowgirl." She ordered Jessie as Lotso. Jessie ran and Lotso gave chase. Annika had Lotso chase Jessie all around the room, finally trapping Jessie in a corner. "No escape now, cowgirl." Lotso said, before jumping on Jessie and pinning the cowgirl under him. Annika lifted Lotso and Jessie, who was struggling madly, into a standing position, and Lotso marched Jessie across the room. Annika resumed her previous position on the floor, and had Lotso drag a fighting Jessie to her. She snatched Jessie from Lotso and held her. "Okay, cowgirl. You've been caught, and you're going to pay for your crimes." She thanked Lotso for catching the criminal, and was about to continue when she was called down to dinner.

"Okay, cowgirl. You're gonna have to stay in my prison." She told Jessie, crossing her room and opening the closet, which was empty. She propped Jessie up against the closet wall, and discarded the intimidating look she had worn when playing, and asked "Did I do well? Did I seem like a good villain?" Jessie and Lotso couldn't respond, but they both thought she had performed magnificently. Annika walked to the door, and turned back to Jessie and Lotso. The evil look spread across her face again as she added one last touch to her game, announcing "After dinner, cowgirl, we're going to have a little interrogation."


	5. Annika's Interrogation

**Sorry it took me so long to update. I had essays to write the last couple weekends. Sigh. **

**Is anyone reading this? I'd like some reviews, please! Or are you guys the people who read stories but don't review them? Well, at least let me know you're reading it. Well, enjoy.**

The moment the door slammed shut, Jessie and Lotso both sprang up. Jessie dusted herself off, and Lotso hurried over to her. "Well, that girl, Annika, did make a good villain." Jessie noted. "Almost too good." Lotso added, and they both laughed. Jessie looked around the room and commented "Pretty boring room, huh?" Lotso nodded and said "Obviously, Annika's grandma needs some help with decorating." That caused them both to giggle.

Jessie walked over to the dresser and started opening drawers. Seeing Lotso's curious look, she told him that they were all empty. Evidently the only personal items Annika had were her backpack, the clothes she wore at the moment, and her two new toys.

"Pretty unfair, how she lost everything in one fire." Jessie said sympathetically. Lotso put in "I sort of know how she feels, though. She lost her whole world in a fire, I lost mine when Daisy left me." He looked a little sad, so Jessie gave him what he liked best- a hug.

He perked up a little at this, and Jessie asked, "Is Annika anything like Daisy?" Lotso shook his head, and said "Apart from having blonde hair, they're completely different. Daisy didn't really tell stories with her toys, and she definitely was never the villain." Jessie nodded and told Lotso that Emily never really acted out stories with her toys either. They heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and they rushed back to where Annika had put them.

Annika rushed in the room, slamming the door behind her. She went strait to Jessie and, wearing her evil villain look, informed her "All right, cowgirl. You're gonna give us some answers."

She tried to get Jessie to sit unaided, but Jessie just fell back down. Sighing, she let Jessie stay lying on the floor as she grabbed Lotso. She walked back to Jessie, picked her up, and dropped her on a pillow on the floor. She pretended to lock Jessie's wrists and ankles in place, and said to Lotso "I'll let you do the honors."

She switched to Lotso's voice and told Jessie that providing information would be much less painful for her. _This doesn't sound good,_ Jessie thought. "All right, what did you do with the cookies?" Annika-Lotso demanded. Annika made no move to act for Jessie, and after a couple seconds, she repeated as Lotso "Cowgirl, what did you do with the cookies?" Again, she left Jessie alone. "You had your chance, cowgirl." Annika-Lotso snarled, "Let's see if this will loosen your tongue."

Jessie was not looking forward to whatever was coming, and was surprised when Annika still didn't move to touch her. Instead, she brought Lotso close to Jessie and rubbed his arm against Jessie's armpit. "Tickle Torture!" Annika-Lotso cackled, and Annika-Jessie shrieked with laughter. "Where did you put the cookies?" Annika-Lotso questioned, but Annika-Jessie was too busy guffawing. Annika had Lotso tickle Jessie for a couple minutes before she gasped as Jessie "I hid them in the pantry!" Annika stopped having Lotso tickle Jessie, and said in her villain voice "Excellent!" She "unlocked" Jessie from the pillow, and rushed downstairs, appearing half a minute later with her hands full of cookies. "Don't tell anyone." she told the toys before eating them. Once she finished, she was about to start playing again when someone called her name from downstairs. Annika sighed when her parents told her it was bedtime. She reluctantly got in bed and hugged and kissed her parents goodnight. Once the lights were turned off and she was alone, she got up and crept to where Jessie and Lotso were. She picked her toys up and brought them back to bed. "You guys are gonna stick with me, right?" She asked them, as if they had a choice. Even if they did, though, they wouldn't have even thought of leaving her. Annika told them that her house had burned down when she was at school, so none of her toys had survived, and she was left with her most boring possessions- clothes and school stuff.

She fell asleep hugging her new toys. Jessie and Lotso slept better than they had in weeks, happy to be in a child's arms.

In the middle of the night, though, Jessie fell out of bed. Her hat flew off and skidded to a halt, stopping under the nightstand. Jessie, however, didn't see this, and was annoyed that she lost her hat. Annika woke up long enough to fetch Jessie from the floor and bring her back to bed.

When morning arrived, Annika awoke and jokingly asked her toys if they slept well, not knowing that they could sleep at all. She asked Jessie where her hat was, and started looking for it. After five minutes of frantic searching, she found it and placed it back on Jessie's head. After eating breakfast Annika started a new game.

She pretended to capture Jessie and Lotso, stuffing them in a pillowcase. She then announced "You guys are going to the dungeon." She pulled them back out and added "But I don't know what to use for the dungeon." She thought about it, and after a minute said "Okay, I know where the dungeon is!" She shoved them back in the pillowcase and carried it off somewhere.

By the sound of it, Annika was going downstairs, and when she pulled them out of the pillowcase, they were in what appeared to be a basement, though it was too dark to really tell. Annika flipped on the lights and announced "You guys have fun in here."

She dropped them on the floor, ran up the stairs, and pretended to leave and lock them in. She came back down and grabbed her toys. "What does this person have against us?" Annika-Jessie wondered. "We're her arch enemies, remember?" Annika-Lotso reminded Jessie. She had them walk up to the door, and made it seem like they couldn't open it.

"Great." Annika-Jessie said sarcastically, "Now were stuck in Lava cave." Annika tried to make a sound like bubbling lava, but it sounded more like she was spitting out toothpaste. "The lava's getting closer!" Annika-Lotso yelped, trying to climb higher, but there was no where to go, and Annika made her bubbling sounds get louder, so the imaginary lava got higher and higher. Annika had Jessie cast around for something to get them out of this mess, and saw a single nail in the wall. "Over there!" Annika-Jessie shouted, and Lotso and Jessie were swept towards it, Jessie reached out and...

Annika was snapped rudely back into reality by her mom calling her. Still holding her toys, she ran into the kitchen and asked, a bit annoyed "What?"

"We're going to look at houses." Her mom replied. "Do you want to come?" Annika happily exclaimed "Yes!" as she put on her shoes. She ran out to the car, still clutching her toys. Her parents got in and they started to drive.


	6. New Toy

**My last chapter was sort of stupid, but hopefully this one will be better. I know it's been a VERY long time since I've updated, so I don't even know if anyone's reading this.**

Lotso and Jessie were now used to Annika's house. Most of their time was spent in their owner's room. It had light green wallpaper with pearls printed on the walls, and a purple carpet. Her room had a double casement window (one of those windows that was like a miniature glass set of double doors in the wall). Annika had gotten, for unknown reasons as she was an only child, a bunk bed. She claimed the top bunk while her two toys had the bottom one. Her toy box, which looked like a treasure chest, sat unused at the foot of the bunk bed. There was indeed a large dungeon-like closet, with stone walls and a stone floor in Annika's room. Whenever Annika's family was out, Jessie and Lotso would go downstairs and watch TV or go on the family's computer. Today, however, even though they had the house to themselves, they stayed in Annika's room and talked.

"It's strange, isn't it? These are our last couple hours of being alone." Jessie said. Annika was going to the toy store with her parents, so soon they'd have a new friend. Even though they were excited about meeting someone new, both Lotso and Jessie were slightly sad that it wasn't going to be just them anymore.

"Well, hopefully we'll still be able to get some alone time." Lotso put a paw around Jessie's shoulder and said "I mean, the new toy will probably understand that, since we're best friends, we might want some time just with each other." Jessie nodded and said "We shouldn't try to exclude new toys though." They heard the garage door opening and they both flopped down on the pillow in toy mode.

About half a minute later, Annika rushed into the room with a box in her hands. She sat on the bottom bunk and began to take out the new toy. She excitedly pulled the toy out and carelessly dropped the box to the floor. She showed the new toy to Jessie and Lotso.

"This is Phillip." she told them. Phillip was a G.I. Joe type of action figure. He had a marquee of black hair, a bit shorter than shoulder length, and also a black beard and mustache. His face was very realistic, not cartoon-ish like Jessie's was. He wore an electric blue jumpsuit, and navy blue gloves and boots, which went to halfway between his elbows and wrists (for the gloves) and the boots went up to his calves. He wore a hooded, navy blue cloak, and there was a strap around his torso which held a holster for his quarterstaff (also navy blue).

Annika was called downstairs, to her annoyance. Jessie jumped up and said "Howdy! I'm Jessie!" Lotso introduced himself, and grabbed Phillip in a bear hug. Jessie thought this was hysterical, until Phillip whacked Lotso across the head with his quarterstaff. No one beat up Jessie's friends and got away with it! Jessie sprang at Phillip, and started to wrestle him to the ground. Fortunately, the flailing quarterstaff didn't hit her, and Lotso wrenched it out of Phillips grasp. Jessie and Phillip rolled around the floor, each trying to pin the other down. They were very evenly matched, neither one being able to overcome the other until Lotso hit Phillip with his own quarterstaff and Jessie took the opportunity to pin the new toy down when he was stunned from the blow.

"Nobody hurts my friends, got it?" Jessie told Phillip in a deadly voice that made Lotso shiver. Lotso sincerely hoped Jessie would never use that tone on _him_. Jessie released Phillip, but Lotso didn't give him back his weapon yet. He wasn't sure if the new toy could be trusted with it.

"That wasn't the way I envisioned I'd introduce myself." Phillip said calmly, as if he hadn't just attacked the other two. "You just startled me with that hug." He told Lotso. He paused, and then suggested "Let's start over again. I'm Phillip." He extended his hand to Lotso, who didn't take it. "Don't worry, I won't attack you again. I just-" "Overreacted?!" Lotso finished in a cold voice. "I greet you nicely, you attack me, and I'm supposed to act like it never happened. You-" He stopped his rant as Jessie pulled him aside and said "Lotso, what would _you_ do if you were a new toy, and you were hugged by a complete stranger?" "And if you couldn't breathe." Phillip added. Jessie shot him a glare that said _you're making it worse for yourself_ before putting even more distance between them and Phillip. "I probably would have done something similar." Lotso admitted. "Exactly." Jessie replied. "I'm not saying we should forgive him right away, but we shouldn't hold it over his head forever. How about we make him earn back his quarterstaff?"

They walked back to Phillip and reintroduced themselves, not being as friendly as they could have been. Phillip, however, was being overly nice, since he was very embarrassed about his bad first impression and wanted to show the others he really was a nice guy. He was informed by Lotso that he wouldn't get his quarterstaff back until they thought he could be trusted with it. Phillip, who was determined to act as if the whole incident hadn't happened, asked them about Annika. Before they could answer, Annika's footsteps sounded on the stairs. The toys rushed back to their places, and Lotso reluctantly gave Phillip his quarterstaff, since Annika would notice it switched hands if Lotso had kept it.

_If he doesn't give it back once we can come alive again, he's in big trouble_ Jessie thought as she sat lifeless on the bottom bunk with Lotso. Annika rushed in and said "All right, guys! Let's have a tea party!" That was surprising for the cowgirl and bear. Annika was a tomboy and her games were always more adventurous than sipping tea.

She grabbed the toys and set Lotso and Jessie down at the small tea table her aunt had given her. She'd never used it before. Annika cast Phillip as the waiter and had her serve the other toys tea. Lotso "drank" his first, and fell to the floor, making choking noises.

Annika made Phillip cackle with sadistic glee and had the cowgirl say "I poisoned the bear, and there's nothing anyone can do about it." _Great, This is like re-living my horrible introduction _Phillip thought sadly as Annika made him and Jessie brawl on the floor. Annika couldn't decide who she wanted to win, so she had them both faint from exhaustion.

Once Annika left the room, Phillip went over to Lotso and handed the bear his quarterstaff. Over the next couple days, Lotso found themselves gradually forgiving Phillip, and by the time he'd been around for two weeks, the incident of him attacking them was completely behind them.

**Well, I hope you liked it. By the way, Phillip is an OC. His introduction wasn't quite what I expected it to be, but it worked out. In case you're wondering, Phillip's head looks the same as Obi-Wan Kenobi's from Attack of the Clones, but with black hair.**


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